The BBRS is an independent and free service established to resolve disputes between SMEs and their bank and has now been in operation for two years. It gives eligible SMEs the opportunity to have their banking complaint heard without the need for litigation or external legal support with a view to delivering fair, reasonable, and independent outcomes.
To date, substantially more than £1 million of financial awards have been made to SMEs as a result of BBRS intervention across the various dispute resolution routes.
Furthermore, where cases evolve to direct settlement between the SME and bank following BBRS intervention, the BRRS is not always a party to the redress sum that is agreed and so this figure is likely to be significantly higher.
In addition to monetary awards, a significant number of non-financial awards have been issued following BBRS intervention including rearranging lending terms and conditions, discharges from personal guarantees, debt recovery rearrangements, or even an apology from the bank.
As of 31 December 2022, the BBRS has reached 56 settlements of which 21 were the result of adjudications and 35 were settled directly between the parties following BBRS involvement.
For the first time, the BBRS can reveal that 26 of these cases are from the Historical Scheme (14 adjudications and 12 conciliated, mediated, and direct settlements), 21 are from the Contemporary Scheme (seven adjudications and 14 direct settlements), and an additional three settlements were dual scheme, where banking complaints relate to matters that happened before and after 1 April 2019. A further six cases were settled before a date of complaint was established.
In addition to redress, the BBRS has been found to provide significant broader benefits. The recent, independent post-implementation review of the BBRS found these to include rebuilding SMEs’ confidence in the fairness of the banking sector, the banks themselves improving their own complaints procedures, and the BBRS acting to encourage the banks to resolve cases internally.
The BBRS Historical Scheme closes on 14 February 2023 and the BBRS is encouraging any SMEs with a historic business banking complaint to visit its website to check if they are eligible.
The BBRS’ Contemporary Scheme remains open beyond this date for SMEs with turnover up to £10 million per annum, total assets up to £7.5 million, and, importantly, which are not eligible to take their complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
Mark Grimshaw, chief executive of the BBRS, said many of the SMEs the BBRS has helped have walked away with life-changing sums of money or non-financial awards that have had a transformational impact.
“SMEs eligible for our Scheme benefit from our capability to tackle complex business banking complaints and provide multiple routes to resolution, which results in better outcomes for all parties involved,” he said.
“As well as financial awards, we are able to deliver significant non-monetary redress, such as changing loan exit fee penalties, changing customer loan terms and discharging people from personal guarantees. We urge all SMEs who think they have a business banking complaint to visit our website to check whether they are eligible and to see if we can help.”
